Having a protected area for temporary freight storage improves efficiency by allowing railroads to accommodate customers' delivery and pickup schedules without leaving boxcars idle at loading points and destinations.
Railroad employees in the outbound or receiving freight house take freight in through the doors on the driveway side; and inspect it, weigh it, and handle billing and marking before moving it into boxcars on the house track.
Both functions are combined in a single freight house which is the more common installation in smaller communities.
[1] Most freight houses are single-story structures, but some have been built with multiple levels where land values are high.
[1] Freight houses which were once among the larger structures in their communities have found a variety of uses when no longer needed for their original purpose.